The present invention relates to computer-based document management systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a computer-based document management system that has the capability of importing, organizing, browsing, searching and viewing paper-based documents and electronic documents of any type or format.
In today's business environment, most businesses, from small businesses to large corporate entities, organize and maintain a tremendous amount of information, particularly information in the form of paper-based documents and electronic documents. The task of organizing and maintaining such a large number of documents, as well as document types, can, and typically is, a time consuming and costly matter.
In response, the computer industry, particularly the computer software industry, offers a number of computer application programs designed to help mitigate this problem. Some of these computer application programs work in conjunction with optical scanners to automatically import paper-based documents into the host computer. Other application programs are directed more specifically at providing electronic file management services for existing electronic documents. Some of the more advanced computer application programs attempt to integrate a number of different capabilities into a single application program. Among the capabilities that some of the more advanced programs provide are automated document importing, storage, manipulation, retrieval, indexing, archiving, exporting and document annotation. Included among these more advanced application programs are PageKeeper by Caere Inc., PaperPort by Visioneer, and PAGIS by Xerox.
Despite the many features already offered by the various software products currently on the market, there is still a tremendous need to provide a more efficient product. This is especially true regarding the way in which these existing computer application programs combine and manipulate collections of related electronic documents, wherein each electronic document may exhibit a different file type or file format. For example, a user may wish to maintain a group of related documents, such as a number of documents pertaining to a particular business meeting. The various documents may include such items as spreadsheets, notes, minutes, letters, and miscellaneous graphical presentations, wherein each document may have been created by a different person using any one of a number of different software tools. In addition, the user may wish to compile this group of documents and send it to each of the meeting attendees. Depending on the number of documents being compiled, this task could prove to be quite formidable and extremely time consuming even with the programs currently available. Therefore, the ability to quickly and efficiently group documents of any type and/or format, and, if desired, distribute them without sacrificing the individuality of each document, would be desirable.